Category: Uncategorized

angstful whining, read at own risk

So, I was browsing for a picture of me in latex (It’s only happened once, and I plan on not doing it ever again, so they’re hard to find) And I saw the more recent photos that Andy (friend of mine in the bay area that a few of you know), put on his website. And I was overcome with an intense longing to be out there and having fun with all those cool bay area people again.

There aren’t enough hours in the day to spend them with all the cool people I know. I wish there were.

• Do not tell me how much dating is wearing you out, how tired you are of dating, or how you wish you were asexual
• Do not tell me about the assholes you’ve dated
• Do not ask me what went wrong with prior boyfriends
• Do not talk trash about people you don’t personally know (unless it’s W)
• Do not bemoan how no one cares about romance.
• Do not bemoan the common pathologies of your romantic failures
• Do not act like wanting someone physically attractive is wrong.
• Do not express who you are attracted to in negative terms
• Do not play the martyr if I am not glowingly supportive of your negative approach to dating

I’m aware of the hypocrisy intrinsic to the above =) It’s called “venting”.

• Do spend time talking about what you like and enjoy
• Do describe what attracts you in positive terms
• Do act like you enjoy talking with me.

I went to a cmu alumni presentation on maglev, which I half paid attention to while browsing the web. (God I love wireless =) It was interesting. It’s down to pittsburgh and baltimore for this, and the company bidding for it for pittsburgh sounds fairly confident that we’ll get it; can I get anyone a salt shaker for that? All sorts of details and logistics, mostly for the construction, very little of the underlying physics was mentioned. I was hoping for more on that angle, but I guess I should have paid more attention in E&M, for that 😉

Signed up for my summer and fall courses (spanish I, and creative writing over the summer, intro civ e and intermediate microeconomics in the fall, on the waitlists for the fall courses =P)

I’m finding myself thinking that pittsburgh really isn’t so bad. It’s good to get out on a regular basis, go to chicago, or dc, or even sf occasionally. And maybe I could stick around for awhile. We have some nice neighborhoods, a few great schools, good parks, a public transportation system that isn’t much worse than any other mostly rail-less town, some resources for me as a vegetarian, a dating pool that has its moments, and roots.

And the roots grow with every day.

Back to work.

So, girl scout cookies, like most cookies, generally involve milk and eggs.

Except for tagalongs, which were always my favorite gs cookie. =)

I got 8 boxes. At about 15 cookies per box, that’s 120 tagalongs. Two a week for a year (yeah, right, sure, or 60 a week for two weeks, or one a second for two minutes =)

Now they do involve hydrogenated fat and chocolate, but I’m willing to indulge myself. =)

Maybe they’ll use real girl scouts next year.

After a year and a half of no serious mechanical problems, the handle bar control for my rear derailer broke, so I have to hold the thing if I want it to stay in any gear but the highest. Most inconvenient. Fortunately, there are several bike shops within easy walking distance of my place.

I haven’t really used a network connection in over 48 hours. I should try that more often. Well, at least, try doing something so engrossing that I don’t notice/mind the absence of network from my life for 48 hours.

long boring trip descriptions

Dragged my ass out of bed at a not-so-early hour, due to mp3 copying in preparation for my weekend trip to dc, and late night remote work foo. Waffled about biking to work. Even went to the bus stop before turning around and walking back for my bike. Went to work, did stuff, grabbed grub down at the pitt food trucks, more work, then class. Class was interesting today because we outlined an essay _as a class_, about (essentially) what we’ve learned in this class =) It was neat. This has been one of the most interactive courses I’ve been in. I just hope I can come up with a reasonable paper for it in the next couple weeks. More work foo. More HALO (I should swear off that stuff at some point, it’s really a waste of several hours per week. Good for bonding with coworkers I suppose, but really…) Home, packing for trip, dinner, watching Bladerunner (director’s cut), ER, and Six Feet Under. Copying more mp3s from the house afs cell. I’m now up to 1.7GB, or significantly over a solid day, of mp3s. Maybe winamp on random repeat can be the dj for Doug’s housewarming 😉 It’ll certainly go a long way towards keeping me entertained for as long as my battery lasts on the trip.

Bladerunner was cool, though it was a highly visual movie. Not so plot oriented, not so character oriented, both aspects were good, but minimal. It was all about the pretty pictures. I’m more about characters. Style over substance, bleh. I’m all about substance.

I much preferred this week’s six feet under to prior episodes. Though I’d really like to see more of Ramone & friend under the tarp. (haven’t watched for a few weeks, and I missed the last half of the first season. Maybe I’ll get around to filling in the holes at some point.)

I took karate in my junior and senior years of high school. I started in on it, after classes, with my Latin instructor, Mr Sobczyk, a multi-tipped brown belt. I then graduated to a course at a nearby healthclub, taught by Mr Sobczyk’s instructor. (whose name I’ve forgotten). I enjoyed that course, in part because it worked on so many levels. We learned practical self defense and kata/forms/series of moves, we got exercise, we were trained in ethics, meditation, and awareness.

I experimented with a aikido, tai chi, and a couple of different stripes of karate throughout college. Most seemed over or under structured. Or maybe I was unwilling to go back to square one.

This kung fu thing seems reasonable. Whether because it’s right, or I’m more ready for it, I don’t know, nor do I especially care. But we’ll see how it works out.